Saturday 20 February 2016

My life in France by Julia Child

I finished this book a while ago, but did not know how to review it (together with having basically no time at all!). The reasons are two:  the first book a reviewed on this blog was about Julia Child (you can find it here), so I grew very attached to her life and (or maybe that's why), I bought this book on a special day, in order to reconnect with France, and with the little things that I love of Paris.
It is a simple book that describe the life of Julia Child from her moving to France with her husband Paul and her first steps in the cooking career. So be prepared to that, but it is somehow so engaging that you cannot stop reading it.

Since I can still not find the right words to describe it, I found a review on goodreads by Kelly 
that describe exactly why I loved this book (and this woman), and I cite here a part:

"You love her because she always brings things back to this place of happiness and, “oh well, the show must go on!” no matter what- but the way she told the stories and negotiated herself to that place was very realistic. This was not an unrelenting “always look on the bright side of life,” montage. There were difficult people in her life, difficult spots in her marriage, difficult moments in her career- the fact that she still remembers verbatim quotes and fights from forty years earlier is telling- and she’s clear about it when she doesn’t like something or someone and why. She doesn’t have an American sense of everything will turn out all right in the end, but rather this very French tant pis acceptance that shit happens and life is shit and oh well, wade through it like a big girl. She doesn’t try to deny anything or erase it or obsess about appearing perfect when she wasn’t- which is something I find irritating about American self-help books and TV fantasies. Her philosophy about serving your food even if it comes out bad and not apologizing for is sort of the epitome of this rejection of the hide your dirty laundry ideals of the mid-century. She’s perfectly frank about her fights with Paul Child, her problems with her co-authors on the book, her difficulties with her Republican father, her failures in the kitchen and on her TV show. It isn’t in the exhibitionist way that you see so often these days either. She’s a good girl, but she won’t let herself be walked all over- she is going to have her say and that’s just fair. I don’t know if I am doing a very good job describing this voice, but believe me when I say that it is as captivating in print as it is on television."

If you wonder if the book helped me in the reconnection process, I can definately give you a positive answer. Thanks Julia, I needed it!!!